Crossword clues for scarabaeus
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Scarabaeus \Scar`a*b[ae]"us\, n. Same as Scarab in both senses.
Wiktionary
n. A scarab.
WordNet
Wikipedia
The genus Scarabaeus consists of a number of Old World dung beetle species, including the "sacred scarab beetle", Scarabaeus sacer. These beetles feed exclusively on dung, which they accomplish by rolling a piece of dung some distance from where it was deposited, and burying it in order to feed on it underground. They also prepare food for their larvae by excavating an underground chamber, and filling it with balls that have eggs laid in them. The growing larva feeds upon the dung ball, pupates, and eventually emerges as an adult.
A "scarabaeus" is also a now outdated term ( OED 2) for an object in the form of a scarab beetle in art. The scarab was a popular form of amulet in Ancient Egypt, and in ancient Greek art engraved gems were often carved as scarabs on the rest of the stone behind the main flattish face, which was used for sealing documents.
A creature identified as Scarabaeus appears in " The Gold-Bug" by Edgar Allan Poe, and a poem entitled "Scarabæus sisyphus" was created by Mathilde Blind.
Scarabaeus, known in America as Invaders of the Lost Tomb, is a computer game released for the Commodore 64 in 1985. It was written by Andromeda Software and distributed in the UK by Ariolasoft. The storyline features an astronaut and his dog who explore an Egyptian tomb (as revealed in the opening sequence) and need to find the Pharoh's Jewel by solving puzzles spread over three levels. The game is played 1st person view.
Usage examples of "scarabaeus".
As he advanced in life, in fact, although he never forgot his rude natal countryside, he felt that new links were daily binding him more closely to those heaths and mountains on which his heart had been so often thrilled with the intense joy of discovery, and that it was indeed in this soil, to him so full of delight, amid its beautiful hymenoptera and scarabaei, that he would wish to be buried.
There was free choice for the visitors of this pattern-room in the matter of mummy-cases and cloths, as well as of necklets, scarabaei, statuettes, Uza-eyes, girdles, head-rests, triangles, split-rings, staves, and other symbolic objects, which were attached to the dead as sacred amulets, or bound up in the wrappings.
Yet with what interest and lucidity has Fabre succeeded in expounding the complex morphoses of the obscure and miserable larva of the Sitaris, the curious intestine of the Scarabaeus, the secret of the spawning of the weevil, and the ingenious mechanisms of the musical instruments of the Decticus and the Cicada.